That’s me. A different kind of Holistic Nutritionist. I don’t do diets. I don’t do meal plans. I don’t do guilt trips and shaming. I start with love.
My training is much the same as other Nutritionists, but what really sets me apart is my approach to food and how it affects the person I am working with. I believe it is equally important for my clients to feel good mentally and emotionally as it is for them to feel good physically. Sometimes that means working on changing their eating habits, sometimes that means working on changing the way they think about or approach food. Acknowledging the impact our food choices has on our mental and emotional health, and vice versa, is part of my process for each of my clients.
my journey
As a Nutritionist I didn’t feel good making meal plans. It never made sense to me that I should tell a person exactly what to eat at each time of day. Right from the start my instinct was to help people make better food choices, based on their individual body needs, guided by their personal history and cultural background. I knew bio-individuality was an important part of how I wanted to approach nutrition.
When I stumbled across the idea of intuitive and mindful eating, I felt a lightbulb go on. I finally found a philosophy that really made sense to me, one that worked with my current approach to teaching my clients.
What is Intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating teaches mindfulness and re-connecting to your body. Tuning in to how your body feels, where you are emotionally and mentally can take some time, and it’s just one step. Intuitive eating involves respecting the signals your body is giving you; if you are hungry then you should eat, if you feel full you should stop. It also involves rejecting typical dieting mentality; there are no good or bad foods. Foods are nourishment, not moral compasses; you choose foods that feel good and taste good to you. Intuitive eating also promotes gentle nutrition, health and fitness. Working with each individual at their own pace and with their own challenges, this is where intuitive eating shines. The goal of intuitive eating is to finally make peace, with your body, your mind, with food and your emotions. A truly Holistic approach to eating and wellness, and why I am happy to promote it.
what it isn’t
Intuitive eating is not a quick fix, all the principles take time to learn; new habits need to replace old harmful habits and thought processes.
It is not simply a hunger/fullness diet, there is much more to it than that.
It is not eating whatever you want all the time. While there are no foods that are off-limits, mindfulness and healthy eating tools are still recommended.
It’s not a weight-loss diet. You can lose weight on it, you can gain weight on it, neither are the goals of this program.
If you are wondering if Intuitive eating will work for you when you have food allergies, diabetes or Celiac, yes it can. This is one of the best explanations I’ve found on working with Intuitive eating and restrictions.
So now I hope you will have a better idea of why I don’t do diets and meal plans.
I still do prescriptive eating and therapeutic diets in my clinic work. These are short term programs to address and correct imbalances in the body. Some examples of therapeutic diets are fasting, for candida, parasites, gut healing, cancer treatment, and hormone balancing. I still focus on doing these mindfully, with compassion, and only when warranted. Homeopathic remedies are helpful to improve results and reduce the amount of time needed to do each therapeutic diet. My end goal is always to get you able to eat anything you want again, while being mindful or how your body feels.
I'd love to hear from you. Do you carry negative eating habits or thought processes with you? How are you fighting back?
Are you tired of restrictive eating and negative food and diet talk? Are you interested in learning more about some of the principles of Intuitive Eating? Are you ready to make peace with your body and with food? If so, I'd love for you to join me in my new program Healthy Start. Registration is open for a limited time. Program begins Sept 28. You can do it, I can help!
I hope you will join me there!
The information provided here is for educational purposes only. For treatment please seek a qualified healthcare provider.
Copyright Lisa Paul The Natural Path 2019